Copying and pasting text on any mobile operating system is kind of a pain, and Android is no different in this regard. Though text selection on our beloved OS has improved over the years, it's still just not an enjoyable experience. However, for those of you that use Chrome and copy URLs often, there's now a feature that may just become a staple of your lives.

There are countless gripes with copy-pasting on Android that I could list, but let's just cut to the chase. Simply hit the three-dot menu on the top right of Chrome, click the (i), long-press the URL from there, and voila! You've got yourself a URL copied.

Sure, you could go through Android's share to apps system instead, but that menu is slow to populate and frequently makes you tap the wrong thing when the top 8 apps jump to the top. This method is far easier if you're just copying a URL.

Exactly. It's super inconsistent. Sometimes it selects the url, sometimes it selects part of it, and it's completely unpredictable. I hate copying urls out of Chrome because of that (until I learned about this other method today anyway).

Lars

If you frequently share to the clipboard, sharing to it is just a two-step process: hit the menu, and hit the clipboard icon (right from the menu).

Arguably the quickest method. :)

jonzey231

I didn't realize any of these tips were hidden gems. I feel like I've been doing your "Edit:" for years anyways lol.

OkieDokie

What I do is long-press the address bar, hit the three-dot menu to get to "Select All" and then press "Copy". This works out to a 4 step process but it works.

It sure is. It was just my way of overcoming the odd behavior - before reading this post that is.

Kami_Whis

When I try to slide with my fingers on the url the stupid magnifying
glass appears (how come it is disabled) is it something normal or ?!??
I'll appreciate some insight on the matter!!!

MayorMcCheese

Don't long press the URL just tap the addres bar. It highlights the entire URL.

elefux

Ah I didn't realise that! Thanks

Hamilton Jimenez Vasquez

wow, that tip is way better than this post itself, thanks. No offense for the author of this post, good effort anyways, thanks as well.

catalysto

You're right. Not sure how I never noticed before! Well considering that, you can still tap the URL first and then hold to select. Same number of steps as the article tip.

NinoBr0wn

It's not. I've always copied from the address bar with no problem.

abqnm

On MM and above, the text selection behavior is slightly different. If you want the whole URL, to do it your way, you have to tap inside the address bar to focus the cursor, then press and hold and it will select everything.

Otherwise if you just try to press and hold directly without focusing the cursor first, it will select from the left up to where your finger is at. If you keep it held down, you can drag to the right to select some or all of the text.

But if you want everything, you need to either tap to focus then long press and tap copy, or tap and hold then start dragging to the end.

So it's really no faster than tapping the i in the menu and long pressing the result. Or just long pressing the custom tab top bar. These are quickest for the whole URL.

NinoBr0wn

I know how it works. I couldn't even tell you how many times I've used it. My point is this new method is not faster than how I've been doing it.

1. It could take forever to populate the share menu on first try.
2. Once you start scrolling down, the top 8 Direct Share contacts will inevitably shift the list, making you tap the wrong share target half the time.
3. It'll reset the default share option from the social option you use the most (G+ for me).

Kevin Kraft

PROTIP#2: if you slide from the overflow button immediately to the left, you can do this in two taps!

That slot where you see the copy to clipboard icon will always just display the last used sharing target. So for me, I see the Join icon since that's what I shared to last.

Gen. Chang

Wow, now I've learned TWO new, faster ways to copy the URL in chrome. The one in comments to just simply "tap" the URL to highlight the WHOLE thing is almost embarrassing to not have known. And then long press to display copy button is the quickest way, by far.

Previously, I long pressed URL, then the three dot menu on clipboard toolbar to select all, then copy. So thanks for the info on alternative ways to copy, but I still prefer Firefox and for more than just this one particular function.

Ygor Cortes

Even better: someone pointed out above that you can triple tap the link. Mind blown!

Đức Thành

There's tons of useful tricks hidden in Android that nobody ever knows about... Because Google never bothers to tell anyone. Ugh. Maybe we could make a list of it ourselves.

AmazingPenguin

I use Copy instead of Now on Tap... Simply long-press home and hit the link button to copy the URL. I don't even have to reach all the way to the top of the screen.

It should be said that the "share" via intents isn't that bad if all you do is copy the address. The latest choose is available as a "quick action" and 90% of the time I have "copy to clipboard" there. But will try this method as well, sounds great so thanks for the tip!

Well that came in handy. I've been going crazy trying to figure out how to share the URLs. I always used OPERA on my other phone and it was very easy to copy/paste. Actually.. I may just d/l Opera to my new phone and start using it instead of Chrome. I hate Chrome.

Anton Kuznetsov

Why bother?
Press Share, then press Copy URL

jonzey231

This is my typical method as well. It may take a second longer but I'm a patient being and it takes less taps. Lol.

Arkitech

In 7.x, you have to wait for the share box to come up (which does have a bit of a delay) along with the additional share box of pinned endpoints. So when you go to click "copy to clipboard", before it pops up the additional share box, you end up clicking the wrong fucking icon. Drives me bonkers.

jesuguru

Yeah "copy to clipboard" was buried 3 swipes away in share box, then I found I could "pin" it and have it appear in the first box of pinned endpoints.

Anton Kuznetsov

The last sharing action shortcut is saved near Share... menu item, so the second time and later it is much easier.

It's not secure, but it's not loading anything that needs security anyway. There are no logins or payment details being sent, so it's not really necessary. Even with Disqus you log in on a separate tab on the actual Disqus domain name, so no secure info is ever sent to AP.

Pneen

I still like either long pressing the url or tapping and long pressing. I don't usually have any issues with it. I'm on lollipop however, before marshmallow and it's text selection/option changes.

itsatrap

nice

Dedren

Just triple tap the url...faster and more reliable than any method (including mouse and keyboard) so far...